


hELp ME!

by Lollikins



Series: The Corruption [3]
Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Demonic Possession, Dom Park Seonghwa, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Sub Kang Yeosang, Switch Choi San
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:21:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27153088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lollikins/pseuds/Lollikins
Summary: Nightmares and madness threaten on all sides. Not only are their lives threatened but their very souls.
Relationships: Kang Yeosang/Park Seonghwa, Kang Yeosang/Park Seonghwa/Choi San
Series: The Corruption [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1979759
Comments: 2
Kudos: 30





	hELp ME!

**_When I’m gone he will leave you. He won’t stay with you unless I stay._ **

_ Don’t listen to him. He’s stayed this far because he wanted to. I don’t know whether he’ll stay forever or not but at least give him the chance to. You think he would stay because this thing forces him to? It’s you he likes. It’s you he’ll stay for.  _

**_He’s afraid He’ll leave him. Have you ever been this interested in someone? The moment you saw him, the moment you laid your eyes on him you wanted him. Has that ever happened before? You want to keep him. You want to love him. You want him to love you. Do you think that’ll happen once I’m gone? Once you’ve gotten rid of me, then he’ll leave too. He’ll go back to his little parish. He’ll go back to his happy little life and forget all about you. All you have to do is accept me, Seonghwa._ **

_ No! Don’t do it! Don’t listen to him! If you accept him, then you’ll never be able to have Kang Yeosang. You’ll never have him as yourself because you’ll never be yourself again. Let the monk do his job and take your chance. It’s the same chance we all get. The chance to meet someone and the chance to try to build something with them. Do you think you’ll be able to do that if you’re no longer yourself? Even if He does manage to make Yeosang stay, you won’t be able to enjoy him. It’s like giving the man you love over to someone else to care for. Please be selfish enough to want him for yourself. Please fight Seonghwa, I’ll help you all I can. Please. Please.  _

Yeosang had dozed off, sitting on the floor beside the bed with his head against Seonghwa’s side, their fingers still intertwined. He wasn’t sure, at first, what it was that had awakened him but when he lifted his head, he saw Seonghwa fighting. He wasn’t sure what he was fighting but he was writhing against the beads and had almost worked the set across his legs off and the ones stretched across his chest barely held him. Quickly, Yeosang reached to readjust them and an almost inhuman roar was torn from him. The look that he was entreated to was laced with pure venom and hatred. No, those weren’t the eyes that had shown him nothing but yearning, lust, and tenderness, those eerie inhuman blue didn’t belong to Seonghwa, they belonged to the monster within. 

Almost instantly, the eyes closed and he grew still. It seemed like perhaps Seonghwa was sleeping? It was hard to tell. Yeosang got up and took the quickest shower he had ever taken in his life. The glass wall to the shower helped him keep him in his sight. If he had been able to hold his eyes open, he wouldn’t have slept. It was a good thing he had woken up when he had or else they might have had a catastrophe on their hands. 

Once he was out and clothed, he picked up his phone and called the monk. If he was going to be paid a million won, then the least he could do was pick up breakfast on his way. The monk said he’d add the cost to his fee. Charming. 

Seonghwa’s parents had messaged him back saying they could pay the fee but wanted to know where they were. He had kept it vague saying they were in a hotel. Trying to explain the love motel was more than he wanted to do. No, panicked parents really didn’t need to know how kinky their son was or that he had a yen for priests… or at least one priest in particular. 

**_I won’t let you have him without me. If you won’t surrender to me, accept me, then you will never have him._ **

**_Never._ **

All of the sudden, the television came on. 

In truth, it took him a moment to locate it. He hadn’t even realized there was one. When he looked up, he saw Seonghwa on the screen walking along the railing outside of an apartment. He let his balance waver and he rocked backward a little before catching himself. 

He looked up and over onto another balcony and saw a young man, slender with his face firm in a mask of concern. He called out to him. Seonghwa lifted his tear stained face toward the man. The man climbed up onto his own railing and pointed, screaming in alarm. Seonghwa watched as the man jumped from his railing onto his own and then turned to see what it was that the other man was pointing at. 

What he saw was so terrifying he couldn’t even scream. 

A face black with bloodied gaping wounds and bruises, twisted into a mocking agonized mask of pain. For a moment, he saw the other man dart in front of him to try to block the attack and pain he knew was coming, he felt the impact and began to fall from the railing. One of his hands reached out and caught the edge just as he fell. Blue eyes peered over the edge as he effortlessly pulled himself up and hopped over. 

The young man who had come from the nearby apartment, lay on the ground. Seonghwa stepped over him and walked into the apartment without looking back. 

**_Last chance, boy. It doesn’t bother me one way or the other whether you watch your pretty little priest die in agony._ **

Yeosang looked over at the bed and the supine form of Seonghwa, his eyes closed. He looked around for the remote and picked it up to turn the television off. The screen went dark and he laid the remote back down only for the television to kick to life again. This time he saw a woman sitting in a chair by the window in the room that they were standing in. She was tying the sheets from the bed, making a noose. 

Yeosang’s eyes darted over to the chair and back to the screen. On the screen, the woman’s eyes were looking at him. Her eyes were the color of smoldering embers. 

The feeling of someone behind him, the electricity of someone’s presence tingled up and down his spine. Just then the room’s door opened as something wrapped around his throat. 

“You didn’t say what you wanted for breakfast so I ju-” Moon Hwangi dropped the bags he was carrying to the floor and reached onto his back and pulled a scimitar from its scabbard. Yeosang had been forced to his knees as he tried to pull the steel-like grip from his throat. Seonghwa’s eyes were open and the iridescent blue was fixed on him, cold malice burrowing into him. He mouthed Seonghwa’s name and the battle within began again. The edges of his vision were growing fuzzy, the world shrinking to a pinprick. He knew he was dying.

Moon Hwangi kicked Father Yeosang with all of his might to the side, dislodging him from the woman’s grip as he brought down his sword through her. With a sound like a scream from lungs filled with water, she dissipated into an acrid black smoke. 

Yeosang scrambled to his knees, one hand at his bruised throat, the other planted firmly on the floor as he gasped for breath. Blood rushed to his head and he felt like he was going to faint. Moon Hwangi put his hand on his shoulder and patted, “It’s a good thing I decided to take a taxi instead of taking the bus. Two more minutes and I would have come back to a corpse and a room full of ghosts. Our entity called her, reminded her of her forgotten grudge. He’s a powerful one. “What do you say we eat breakfast and then get to work?” 

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Slowly he pulled himself to his feet and into a nearby chair. The television was now showing Weekly Idol and a girl group were running around doing some sort of manic challenge. 

“Anything you can do will help. Holy power is holy power, no matter it’s source. Now, let’s eat.” Moon Hwangi and Yeosang chatted while they ate. 

“How’s he been this morning?” The monk gestured with his chopsticks toward Seonghwa who was watching them silently with frosty blue eyes. 

“I haven’t seen much of Seonghwa, just the other one. I’ve never seen the third man, San. But the entity showed me what happened, I think it was trying to scare me.” Yeosang explained to Moon Hwangi what he had seen. Hwangi looked up from his food and stared at Seonghwa contemplatively. San had seen the spirit and had been literally pushed out of his body and not passed through. His spirit must have been light at the time … close to death maybe? Had the attack killed him? It was possible he was still alive somewhere. Well they would find out after they kicked everyone out of Park Seonghwa’s body. This was going to be a long, long day. He was getting old and wouldn’t be able to do this sort of thing much longer. It took a lot out of you. He looked over to Yeosang, “Don’t ever start doing this.” 

“Do what?” Yeosang asked as he sipped his soup. 

“Exorcisms. Find someone you love and can live with,” His eyes darted over to Seonghwa and then back again. “Live a long healthy life together. Don’t ever start doing this, it’s hard to stop. It’ll end you well before your time and you’ll never sleep another peaceful night.”

Yeosang looked over at Seonghwa as the monk did. Did he know something? They were naked together at a love motel, of course he knew. “If it’s so bad, why do you do it?” 

Moon Hwangi laughed and slapped the table, “Because someone has to do it and I wasn’t as smart as you when I was your age.” 

After they ate, they sat and talked a little while when Moon Hwangi’s phone vibrated. He looked at it, “Alright money has been received, let’s get to work. I thought you might need this.” 

The monk handed him a bible. Yeosang glanced over at his cassock and nodded, “Thank you. I might be a priest but I haven’t been one for very long and I don’t have any experience with this sort of thing.”

“It’s okay, I’ll tell you what you need to do to help me.” 

Yeosang stood up and put on his cassock and kissed the bible before turning toward the bed. He had broken his vows but he couldn’t imagine that God would abandon him, not now. Not when he needed to help save someone, two someone’s actually. He would like to recommit to his vows but that wasn’t a decision he could make right now. No, he would need to see what would happen. 

Moon Hwangi walked around the room, stopping to say prayers and sprinkle oil at the doors and windows. He even stopped in front of electrical outlets, the television, and the radio. After seeing what he had with the television, he understood the monk’s caution perfectly well. The more secure he made the room, the more violently the entity attempted to rend itself away from the beads that held it firmly in place. 

The monk handed Yeosang a list of passages and chapters that would be appropriate before stepping up to the end of the bed and beginning to sway and hum in a sing-song fashion. Yeosang opened his bible and began to read, keeping the cadence the monk set. 

The screams would haunt his dreams forever, they were terrible and heart rending. It wasn’t just the entity he heard in those agonized sounds but other voices. Moon Hwangi said that they were the voices of those that the entity had consumed and he could only hope that Park Seonghwa hadn’t surrendered himself to become one of them. 

The sky outside began to darken and the lights in the room dimmed to the point that it was impossible to continue reading. The monk gestured to his bag and Yeosang went to look, discovering myriad candles. He hurried to set them out around the room. The darkness in the room had become so thick and pervasive, the small flames of the candles barely seem to illuminate the area around them at all. He could no longer even see the electric lights. It seemed as though the entity was able to affect electricity.

Faces pressed against the glass of the window, of the mirrors, of the television. They tried to enter the room. They tried to answer the call of the entity. A trickle of sweat traversed its way down Yeosang’s spine, he had never been more frightened before in his life. But he did as he was told, he kept praying, he kept reading scripture, both buddhist and christian. 

The minutes stretched into hours.

Yeosang became aware of a black mist gathering around his feet, “It’s almost time…” Moon Hwangi pressed his back to Yeosang’s as he whispered, “Keep your eyes open.” 

All at once an explosion of oily black fingers which looked more like tentacles, exploded from Seonghwa. Blood spattered everywhere as something attempted to claw its way out. Yeosang screamed in alarm and started to take a step, “Don’t believe it. It’s lying to you, trying to get you to let down your guard. It’s trying to fool us, to perhaps take one of us.” 

Yeosang clenched his eyes shut, tears slipping from them down over his cheeks. No, the monk said to keep his eyes opened. He forced his eyes open to look around the room. Jesus. He crossed himself absently. There were so many… so, so many. Broken bodies, bloodied faces, sallow, sickly, angry and lost - some tried to get in, some tried to escape, the creature fought to keep them under control but its hold was failing. He took a deep quavering breath, “SEONGHWA! SAN! HOLD ON!” 

Moon Hwangi drew his scimitar and climbed up onto the foot of the bed, raising the blade high over his head. With a roar, he brought it down, the ceremonial blade whistling through the air as if he intended to cleave Park Seonghwa in twain but instead of cutting through the man, the blade disappeared in blackness. In a final attempt to escape, it launched at the monk, driving around him and through Yeosang, knocking him back into Yeosang’s arms. 

As it passed through him, he caught a glimpse of different beings, seeing their lives before they continued on but two in particular called to him. He felt the warmth of them, the familiarity, he knew it was San and Seonghwa. The entity screeched as it released its hold on the spirits it held before it lit up like electricity arcing through steel wool, flaming embers of black and red exploded and showered over and around the two men. 

One by one, the spirits who had been called began to fade and were drawn away. 

Blood ran from the monk’s nose, eyes, and ears but he smiled as he panted catching his breath, “Call an ambulance for Park Seonghwa.” 

“What about you?” 

“No, I’m fine. I just need a nap and some soju.” He grinned and reached up to pat Yeosang’s cheek. “You did good father. Go check on your boyfriend.” 

“I thought monks were supposed to be sober and vegetarians.” Yeosang cocked his head slightly at the monk and Moon Hwangi winked at him with a grin.

Yeosang laid Moon Hwangi down and went over to Seonghwa. He looked like death warmed over, maybe not even warmed over. He was so pale with dark circles under his eyes. He ran a hand over his hair before checking for a pulse. His pulse was thready but there. He reached for his phone and called an ambulance before untying Seonghwa and working to get him dressed.

***

Yeosang his hands through his hair and over the back of his neck, squeezing the muscles there. They had admitted Seonghwa, while he was stable and apparently healthy, he wasn’t waking up. His family had come and were in with him. They had thanked him profusely for all that he had done for their son and honestly, he wasn’t sure he deserved any credit at all. It was the monk who had done all of the work and not him. He had supported him but in retrospect, it didn’t seem like much. 

He really hadn’t wanted to leave Seonghwa’s side but he also didn’t have a good excuse for continuing to take care of him when his family was there. 

All of a sudden Yeosang stopped. 

He had seen something out of the corner of his eye. He turned and the nameplate on the door beside him said, “Choi San”. 

“I’m fine I swear!” San ran his hands through his hair rearranging it from his mother’s ‘fixing’ it. He bounced up and down a little and whined at his mother, “Mom, stooooooop.” 

“Can we help you Father?” San’s mother stopped fussing as she noticed the priest standing in the doorway. 

Yeosang hadn’t realized that he opened the door until San’s mother spoke to him, “Oh, no I’m sorry. I thought I might know-” 

“He does, he does know me. Come on in. Mom, can I talk to him for a little while?” 

San’s mother looked surprised but she nodded, “Oh yes, of course.” She offered a bow to the priest and gave her son’s hand a reassuring squeeze before she excused herself and slipped out into the hall. 

It was so odd, he didn’t have a particularly good explanation for it. He had somehow  _ felt _ Yeosang out in the hallway. He had felt his recognition at seeing the name San, the confusion, the wondering if it was the same one. He didn’t have the most common of names, it was one of the reasons he loved it so much. He reached out and took Yeosang’s hand and felt the strength in his grip as he returned the grasp. He felt it too. He could see it in his eyes. 

After what had happened… that had to be what it was. It wasn’t everyday that you got forced out of your body and into someone else’s. Had it marked them somehow? 

To know that someone knew you and everything about you when you hadn’t actually had the chance to ever really speak to him. He looked down at San’s hand and he could hear his voice plain as if he were speaking directly to him, telling Seonghwa to fight. That if he couldn’t fight for himself then to fight for Yeosang. What was more, he knew how he felt. Yeosang breathed a laugh, “I don’t even know what to say. I know that you’re just going to know what it is I already feel.” 

For someone who others had found difficult because of his quiet nature, that made it a little easier to get to know someone. Of course, he already knew him. He knew him better than anyone else … except one. 

“How is he?” San asked. It wasn’t telepathy exactly, it wasn’t reading each other’s thoughts. It was more empathic, just knowing how the other person felt. Yeosang was wary, confused, and worried about Seonghwa. He was also just flat out nervous about something, though San couldn’t say what it was exactly as he didn’t know the thoughts that went along with it. 

“Physically, he’s fine. The doctors think it might just be exhaustion. From what I saw on the outside, that seems like it could be true. What happened to you?” He looked down at his hand as San laced their fingers together. 

“When I got pushed out of my body and into Park Seonghwa’s, I went into a coma. Seonghwa’s mother found me when she came looking for her son. I owe her one or two … or three or four.” San found himself wanting to pull Yeosang into his arms and bury his face in his hair. He had the feeling he would welcome the contact but he was keenly aware of the fact that his mother hadn’t gone far. He hadn’t gotten around to even figuring out  _ how _ to explain that he was in a coma because a malevolent spirit had pushed him out of his body and into someone else’s. He was tempted to say he just tripped and hit his head but he was well aware the doctors said he was physically fine. 

“Do you think we can go see him?” 

Yeosang took a deep breath and let it out slowly, “I don’t know if that’s a good idea right now. I wanted to stay and I’m sure his family would have let me but it didn’t feel right. I couldn’t come up with a good excuse to stay there when his entire family is there to take care of him. Really, the whole thing. There were about fifteen people in there when I left. One of the nurses was trying to sort out who was immediate family and who else should go wait in the waiting room.” 

San chuckled, “Okay then we’ll go later after the crowd thins out. How are you?” 

“You’re full of questions.” Yeosang smiled and San returned it, giving a show of dimples. It struck him for the first time exactly how attractive he was. He was lithe and slender, almost feline. But there was something powerful in him, the way he moved, the way he spoke with that sexy little satoori, even the way he sat conveyed strength. 

“I couldn’t talk to you at all and I could only listen while Seonghwa and the … thing talked to you. Are you-...” San hesitated before he asked. He knew that the answer could absolutely devastate someone he cared deeply about. “Are you going back to the priesthood?” 

“You don’t just ask a lot of questions but you’re asking me the hard ones.” Yeosang reached out and touched San’s cheek before walking away to go look out of the window. It wasn’t much of a view, just the parking garage but he could see the sky alighting with the flames of the setting sun. “I need to talk to Seonghwa before I can answer that question. I know how he feels, we both know. I am pretty sure I feel the same way.” 

He cast a glance over his shoulder at San, he also knew how San felt. He seemed a good deal more confused over his feelings though. He didn’t seem entirely convinced they were actually his. He did spend a good deal of time trapped in another person’s head, sharing his thoughts and emotions. Maybe they all needed a little bit of time to sort out their thoughts. “If he- If he loves me and he wants to give it a try, then I want that too. I know my commitment to the church shouldn’t be contingent upon someone else’s feelings but I need to be right with my head and my heart before I can be a priest. I can love God and serve no matter what life I decide to lead. He’s the one who put me on this path and if His intent was to show me that this isn’t the life I’m meant to lead, then how do I challenge that? No, I owe it to Him and myself to be sure. Right now I’m not.” 

San admired that. He had been raised in the church and had even sung in the church choir. He wasn’t sure entirely how devoted he was but he did generally believe. If he hadn’t before, he certainly would have had food for thought now. But his life wasn’t contingent upon what he believed. Kang Yeosang’s was, he was an avowed priest after all, albeit one who had broken those vows rather spectacularly in a love motel. He really hadn’t intended to watch but he hadn’t really had a choice, he had felt every caress, every thrust of Seonghwa’s hips, the heat of Yeosang’s lips, of his tight body wrapped around him. 

He wasn’t gay, or hadn’t been. Now … now he was just confused about everything. He knew he wanted to protect and ensure that Seonghwa and Yeosang could be together, whether that left him out of the picture or not was another matter. They mattered as much to him as himself, perhaps even more. He loved them both… that he could be sure of. Now what form that love took, that was a different question entirely. 

His heart ached with the thought he might not see either of them again.

He felt like his head was about to explode. 

In short, he was miserable. 

Yeosang was perched on the edge of the bed looking at him was razor sharp. “I know, I know.” 

Yeosang didn’t say anything, he just nodded and reached to pet San’s hair. He chuckled, remembering his mother fussing over him when he had entered. She really hadn’t done his hair any good. He reached up self consciously and attempted to arrange it. “Which room is he in?” 

“307.” 

“Do you have your phone?” San queried. 

“Here.” 

San called himself and then called Seonghwa, so that they would all have each other’s numbers. “I’ll see if I can’t get rid of my mother for a bit. Maybe I can send her to get me some clothes or something, then we can have dinner together.” 

God he didn’t want him to go. He wanted to kiss him … Did he? He was just so confused. “When you go out, can you send my mother in? I’ll give you a call once I’ve sent her off.” 

Yeosang nodded, “Okay I’ll see you later. I think I’ll go home and take a shower and change my clothes.” He put his hand on the door and looked back, “San…” 

A smile curved San’s lips and he caught his bottom lip between his even white teeth, “I know. I feel the same.” 

“I could get used to this…” Yeosang said almost to himself before he headed out into the hall. Standing in the hospital corridor with people going to and fro, he had never felt more alone in his life. There were people he wanted to be with and for the moment, he couldn’t be with either of them. He spied San’s mother and told her he was done talking to San and she could go back in. 

“Father?” She stopped Yeosang before he got very far. He was wishing that he had avoided meeting her because it could make things strange later. To be honest though, pretty much his entire life since the last year of university had been just getting progressively stranger. How much stranger could it be to have the mother of one of your prospective partners meet you when you were dressed as a priest?

“Yes?” 

“How do you know my son?” 

Shit. Well there was a question he really didn’t want to answer. Sorry San, she’s your mother, it’s all on you. “I think that’s probably something you should hear from him. It’s nothing bad, I assure you. 

She nodded, a little puzzled but turned to walk back into the room. 


End file.
